Belvoir Season 2025

Belvoir has announced its 2026 Season, featuring nine mainstage, two special late-night shows and a return of Redfern Renaissance, performed by over one hundred artists, in a celebration of new Australian works, First Nations stories, adaptations of bestselling novels, and Belvoir classics.

“The shows we’re offering this year come from artists asking, what can we make possible? Can we make a place in this country for Black men to be both strong and vulnerable in public? Can we rouse the ghost of Chrissy Amphlett? Can art outwit the authority of the state? Can the dead speak of war? Can animals make justice? Can we figure out how to survive the overthrow of nature? Can we overthrow the patriarchy? Can a dog perform at Belvoir St? Can the proud Black spirit of Redfern live on? Yes, yes, yes, yes, why not, hopefully, yes, yes, yes!” - Belvoir’s Artistic Director, Eamon Flack.

 

BELVOIR’S 2026 SEASON

DEAR SON

8th to 25th January

A Queensland Theatre and State Theatre Company South Australia production, co-presented with Sydney Festival

In the referendum’s aftermath, twelve Indigenous men were asked to write a letter to their son – or father – about themselves, their mob, their story, their hopes for the future, and the things they’ve never said before.

From Thomas Mayo’s seemingly simply idea came Dear Son, a collection of messages to the future and the past that celebrate Indigenous fatherhood and might even light a way to come together.

Based on the book by Thomas Mayo

Adapted by Isaac Drandic and John Harvey

Directed by Isaac Drandic

With Jimi Bani, Waangenga Blanco, Trevor Jamieson, Kirk Page, Aaron Pedersen, Tibian Wyles

 

AMPLIFIED

29th January to 8th February

Produced by Jacaranda Productions

Chrissy Amphlett was a seismic force in a school uniform. Now the legendary rebel-queen of Australian rock is reimagined by Sheridan Harbridge.

Take a live-wire journey through the words and music of the Divinyl’s legend in this new cabaret that blends biography with concert, as Sheridan fronts a live four-piece band while channelling Chrissy’s fierce spirit in a “rock odyssey” of music, storytelling and unapologetic attitude.

Written by Sheridan Harbridge

Co-created by Sheridan Harbridge, Glenn Moorhouse, and Sarah Goodes

Directed by Sarah Goodes

With Sheridan Harbridge

 

A MIRROR

21st February to 15th March

Adem’s a mechanic who’s written a play, and naively submitted it for consideration. He’s called to the arts council by a bureaucrat, Čelik, who suspects Adem has potential – if only he can learn to write in the state-approved patriotic way, instead of telling uncomfortable truths.

Together with his new assistant Mei and national playwriting treasure Bax, Čelik takes his new protégé through a crash-course in how to write a celebrated play for the national stage...

By Sam Holcroft

Directed by Margaret Thanos

With Yalin Ozucelik, Rose Riley

 

DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD

28th March to 3rd May

The Nobel Prize-winning author’s masterpiece, now a theatrical tour-de-force.

Janina Duszejko, a woman of retiring age, lives quietly in a remote village. But one winter, men start being murdered in her district, and nobody seems to have an answer. Like a Polish Miss Marple, Mrs Duszejko takes it upon herself to work out exactly what’s going on.

A whodunnit which takes astonishing turns, a provocative story of animals, humans and the spaces in between, and one of the most memorable characters of modern literature.

From the novel by Olga Tokarczuk

Adapted and Directed by Eamon Flack

Costume Designer Ella Butler

With Paula Arundell, Marco Chiappi, Gareth Davies, Emma Diaz, Pamela Rabe

 

THE BIRDS

16th May to 17th June

A Malthouse Theatre production

Nature isn’t behaving. The weather is doing strange things, the sea and sky sound different, and things that were once innocent, benign, harmless, are taking on dark and alarming aspects.

Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 gothic horror story captured the paranoia and tension of the Cold War and inspired an iHitchcock film. Now, a new adaptation by Australian writer Louise Fox brings this classic to the stage, a version for a new age, with new anxieties.

By Daphne du Maurier

Adapted by Louise Fox

Directed by Matthew Lutton

With Paula Arundell

 

THE JUNGLE AND THE SEA

11th July to 2nd August

Co-Produced by Kurinji, and Lingalayam Dance Company

The smash hit play by the team that made Counting and Cracking returns for a limited Sydney season.

When violence escalates between the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Gowrie does everything she can to keep her family alive. She sends her husband and one daughter to Australia for safety. She takes her other two daughters to search through the jungles of northern Sri Lanka for her estranged son. But how does a family come together again when the world around them is tearing itself apart? How is peace made? How can we honour the dead?

Written and Directed by S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack

With Anandavalli, Prakash Belawadi, Emma Harvie, Nadie Kammallaweera, Shiv Palekar, Dushan Philips,

Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Rajan Velu and Musicians Indu Balachandran, Arjun Puveendran

 

 

22nd August – 20th September

11-year-old Annie Shearer lives in the little town of Upson Downs with her best friend, a rescued stray called Runt. Runt’s a brilliant sheepdog – nimble as a pickpocket’s fingers and lightning-fast from years of eluding dog-catchers, police, and angry butchers.

So, when a developer threatens to bulldoze their house, Annie puts Runt’s talents to work in a winner-takes-all plan.

From the novel by Craig Silvey

Adapted by John Leary

Directed by Neil Armfield

With Peter Carroll, Julie Forsyth, Rebecca Massey, Steve Rodgers

 

A ROOM WITH A VIEW

3rd October – 1st November

Co-produced with Melbourne Theatre Company

Lucy Honeychurch could follow the path set out for her – life would be easy and comfortable. But a few days in Florence, and her view of love and possibility is thrown out the window. Sublime art and architecture, an array of folk who see the world through different eyes, and the attentions of the passionate George Emerson might just change her forever.

But back home in her room Tuscany feels like another universe. Will she stay safe with her slightly underwhelming fiancé Cecil? Or will Lucy find a new room, and a new view?

From the novel by E.M. Forster

Adapted by Grace Chapple

Directed by Hannah Goodwin

With Nathalie Morris, Brigid Zengeni

 

THE COCONUT CHILDREN

21st November – 20th December

Cabramatta, 1998. Sonny Vuong and Vince Tran are sixteen; they’ve known each other since they were small. Sonny lives in a world of imaginary love affairs and nineteenth century novels. But Vince has done it harder. He’s just out of juvenile detention, he’s seen how close brutality and despair can be when life knocks you off balance. And now they’re back in each other’s lives, thanks to some weird goings-on – a grandma who’s hitting the bottle, a stash of porn at the Cabra Golf Club and the inevitable secrets from the old country coming to the surface.

Book Author & Playwright Vivian Pham

Co-Directed by Hannah Goodwin and Catherine Vǎn-Davies

With Gemma Chua-Tran, HaiHa Le, Brandon Nguyen

 

UP LATE

 

REDFERN RENAISSANCE

15th – 24th January

Co-presented with Sydney Festival as part of Blak Out

Redfern Renaissance returns to Belvoir St Theatre for its second year as part of Sydney Festival 2026!

This powerful Blak Out program, curated by Belvoir’s Community Liaison Coordinator and acclaimed Wiradjuri Yuin actor Angeline Penrith (Wayside Bride, Winyanboga Yurringa), honours the storytellers and trailblazers who built the foundations of Black theatre in Australia.

Creative Director Angeline Penrith

With special guest artists

 

GRUMBLISM

31st January – 8th February

A performance, party and portal. A meeting of energies to bring bodies together in presence, possibility and pleasure. Join Betty Grumble as she leads a genre dance of guest artists in a night of alchemical celebration, theatrical ecstasy and hyphenate avant-garde bliss.

Created and Performed by Betty Grumble

 

ROLE PLAY

1st – 8th February

A broke feminist podcaster rebrands as a provocative “slutfluencer” in pursuit of fame, only to lose herself in the performance.

Roleplay is an interrogation of modern sex, womanhood, the commodification of feminism, and a sharp reckoning with the cost of inauthenticity in the age of the personal brand.

Written and Performed by Hannah Reilly

Directed by Paige Rattray

 

Subscriptions for Belvoir’s 2026 season are on sale now via www.belvoir.com.au.